We are coming into the ‘Word of the Year’ season when one dictionary after another announces its Word of the Year for 2026.
Well, just as Christmas seems to start earlier and earlier every year in the shopping centres, just so the Word of Year announcements start coming earlier and earlier each year.
This year Dictionary.com is determined to be first out of the blocks and has announced that its Word of the Year for 2026 is— (roll of drums please) ‘maxxing.’
This started life as an abbreviation of ‘maximum’ (reduced to just ‘max’—as in ‘I’ll have the max of syrup on my ice-cream please.’) which has now been given an over-cute online spelling with a double X.
According to Dictonary.com ‘maxxing’ is now popping up all over the place and so deserves to be Word of the Year for 2026.
Here’s what they say about the word:
‘Maxxing is a word that refers to the practice of pursuing an activity to the fullest or optimizing a certain aspect of your life. It can be used on its own, as in “Everyone is maxxing something…what’s yours?” But it’s especially common when it combines with other words to make new creations like looksmaxxing (optimizing one’s physical appearance), tokenmaxxing (using as much AI at work as possible), and nonamaxxing (bettering one’s life by adopting the habits of an Italian grandmother).’
I have to admit that so far ‘maxxing’ has not become part of my working vocabulary—so perhaps I need to get out more.
Possibly I should coin another new term: ‘wordmaxxing’—meaning using words to their maximum effect?
Is that a good idea?
Tonight I will join Peta Credlin for 'Words Matter' on News24.
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* My latest book is called Pray Like This. To look at prayer I do what I do in these Ozword columns: I go through the most famous prayer in the world (The Lord’s Prayer, also known as the Our Father) and unpack it word by word—each chapter being a short word-study on a key word in that prayer. There is a total of 21 words studies in all. To find out more, here’s a link to the publisher’s website (where you can buy a copy if you wish): Pray Like This – matthiasmedia.com.au
* My book is Sherlock Holmes: 5-Minute Mysteries -- containing 50 new stories I have written about the great detective. You can find it on Amazon. Just go to Amazon and type in Sherlock Holmes: 5-Minute Mysteries in the search panel. Or use this link: h Amazon.com.au : Sherlock Holmes 5-Minute Mysteries Kel Richards
* My book "Defending the Gospel" is now in a second, fully revised, edition. You can find it here: Defending the Gospel – matthiasmedia.com.au
* If you're looking for my recent book "Flash Jim" you'll find it here -- Flash Jim, The astonis
hing story of the convict fraudster who wrote Australia's first dictionary by Kel Richards | 9781460759769 | Booktopia
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* And you'll find more here -- Search: 4 results found for "Kel Richards" – matthiasmedia.com.au
* Many of Kel's out of print books can be found at ABE Books -- Kel Richards - AbeBooks explaining words explain the term
BY THE WAY...
If you'd like to see my A-Z list of Aussie slang, you'll find it here in the Australian Geographic website -- A-Z list of Aussie slang. Here’s the link: The A-Z of Aussie slang - Australian Geographic
The liveliest part of this website is usually the Q and A page -- be sure to check it out from time to time.
